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from the YOU-try-sneaking-up-and-stabbing-a-wild-animal dept.
Archaeologist Annemieke Milks' recently published study, albeit done in 2015, suggests that some extinct hominids probably didn't just stab prey from a close distance, but may have also occasionally threw spears. The study had a group of athletes, particularly strong javelin throwers, throw replicas of a 300,000-year-old wooden spear, one of nine ancient hunting tools discovered at Germany's Schöningen coal mine, at a bale of hay for accuracy.
Many researchers have suspected that Neandertals or their ancestors snuck up on and stabbed prey with the pointed wooden rods. That idea aligns with a popular assumption that Stone Age Homo sapiens had a monopoly on hurling spears at prey. Yet bodies capable of accurate and powerful throwing may have emerged nearly 2 million years ago in Homo erectus (SN Online: 6/26/13). So why not Neandertals?
Now data from high-speed video cameras at Milks' unusual throw-off, held in January 2015 and reported online January 25 in Scientific Reports, suggest that Neandertals might have used the spears for long-range hunting.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Sunday February 03 2019, @05:53PM
IIUC, Neanderthals had a different shoulder joint than Cro Magnons did, and as a result they were much better at stabbing with a spear and less good at throwing it. Of course, perhaps they just used a different technique than the one that would work for us, but it's also true that the skeletal wounds on Neanderthals are suppose to be more similar to what you would expect of someone who got up close and stabbed at an animal that was still alive and active.
That said, I'm not an expert in the field. But modern javelin throwers throwing Neanderthal spears doesn't prove much to me...except that javelin throwers are good at throwing things.
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